- Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X
(HarperTeen / HarperCollins Publishers) - M. T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin, The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge
(Candlewick Press) - Bryan Bliss, We’ll Fly Away
(Greenwillow Books / HarperCollins Publishers) - Leslie Connor, The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle
(Katherine Tegen Books / HarperCollins Publishers) - Christopher Paul Curtis, The Journey of Little Charlie
(Scholastic Press / Scholastic, Inc.) - Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Hey, Kiddo
(Graphix / Scholastic, Inc.) - Tahereh Mafi, A Very Large Expanse of Sea
(HarperTeen / HarperCollins Publishers) - Joy McCullough, Blood Water Paint
(Dutton Children’s Books / Penguin Random House) - Elizabeth Partridge, Boots on the Ground: America’s War in Vietnam
(Viking Children’s Books / Penguin Random House) - Vesper Stamper, What the Night Sings
(Knopf Books for Young Readers / Penguin Random House)
Longlist for the 2018 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature
13 Sep2017 National Book Awards for Young People’s Literature
13 SepThe 2017 National Book Awards Longlist for Young People’s Literature was announced yesterday. I’ve read four already. I have a few on hold, one ARC, and there are a few that my library doesn’t have yet. And the first three weren’t even on my radar.
MY TBR pile just got longer.
Elana K. Arnold, What Girls Are Made Of
Robin Benway, Far from the Tree
Samantha Mabry, All the Wind in the World
Mitali Perkins, You Bring the Distant Near
Jason Reynolds, Long Way Down
Erika L. Sánchez, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
Laurel Snyder, Orphan Island
Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give
Rita Williams-Garcia, Clayton Byrd Goes Underground
Ibi Zoboi, American Street
2016 National Book Award Young People’s Lit Longlist Announced
12 SepLONGLIST:
- Kwame Alexander, Booked (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
- Kate DiCamillo, Raymie Nightingale (Candlewick Press)
- John Lewis, Andrew Aydin & Nate Powell (Artist), March: Book Three (Top Shelf)
- Grace Lin, When the Sea Turned to Silver (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
- Anna-Marie McLemore, When the Moon Was Ours (Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martin’s Press)
- Meg Medina, Burn Baby Burn (Candlewick Press)
- Sara Pennypacker & Jon Klassen (Illustrator), Pax (Balzer & Bray / HarperCollins)
- Jason Reynolds, Ghost (Atheneum Books for Young Readers / Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)
- Caren Stelson, Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story (Carolrhoda Books / Lerner Publishing Group)
- Nicola Yoon, The Sun Is Also a Star (Delacorte Press / Penguin Random House)
блокада Ленинграда, or The Siege of Leningrad
23 NovFrom September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944, 872 days, the city of Leningrad was under siege by Nazi German forces whose mandate from Hitler was to wipe Leningrad off the face of the Earth. It is estimated that over a million people died, mostly from starvation, stress and exposure. The perseverance and defiance of the people of Leningrad was remarkable. So remarkable, in fact, that Dmitri Shostakovich decided to dedicate his 7th symphony to the city of Leningrad, his hometown. The work remains one of Shostakovich’s best-known compositions.
In Symphony for the City of the Dead, long listed for the National Book Award, M. T. Anderson weaves together Shostakovich’s life, work, hometown, and the siege.
The book is told in three parts. Part one tells Shostakovich’s story. Born in 1906, he was really a child of the Revolution. A prodigy who embraced the art and music of Russian futurism and the avant-garde. Eventually, though, he fell foul of Stalin and feared that he would be swallowed up in the purges of the 1930’s banished to exile or to the Gulags. Eventually, he regained his footing and, by the time of the outbreak of what the Russian;s call the Great Patriotic War, he was more or less safe.
Part Two covers the period of the war and the composition of the 7th symphony. Anderson provides excellent background information to the war and, although I consider myself fairly well read on the subject of WWII and the Soviet Union, having read a lot of Solzhenitsyn in my youth, I learned facts about Stalin I’d never heard before. We see Shostakovich composing as the situation in Leningrad deteriorates, composing the first three movements in besieged Leningrad. Eventually he, along with his wife and children and other important residents of Leningrad, are evacuated and we see him struggle to finish the 7th symphony in exile while he worried about family members who were left behind.
Part three covers the post war period and the rise of the Cold War. Shostakovich found himself once more a victim of Stalin’s criticism and denounced by former friends and colleagues. Stalin’s death in 1953 saw Shostakovich’s rehabilitation as a creative artist.
The book includes extensive photo, notes and a bibliography. It is an excellent piece of research and shines a light on the importance of the arts in a world gone mad.
Publisher’s Summary: In September 1941, Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht surrounded Leningrad in what was to become one of the longest and most destructive sieges in Western history—almost three years of bombardment and starvation that culminated in the harsh winter of 1943–1944. More than a million citizens perished. Survivors recall corpses littering the frozen streets, their relatives having neither the means nor the strength to bury them. Residents burned books, furniture, and floorboards to keep warm; they ate family pets and—eventually—one another to stay alive. Trapped between the Nazi invading force and the Soviet government itself was composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who would write a symphony that roused, rallied, eulogized, and commemorated his fellow citizens—the Leningrad Symphony, which came to occupy a surprising place of prominence in the eventual Allied victory.
This is the true story of a city under siege: the triumph of bravery and defiance in the face of terrifying odds. It is also a look at the power—and layered meaning—of music in beleaguered lives.
The National Book Award Longlist
17 SepWell, they’ve been announced and here are the nominees for YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE.
- Becky Albertalli, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins Children’s Books)
- M.T. Anderson, Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad (Candlewick Press)
- Ali Benjamin, The Thing About Jellyfish (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
- Rae Carson, Walk on Earth a Stranger (Greenwillow/HarperCollins Children’s Books)
- Gary Paulsen, This Side of Wild: Mutts, Mares, and Laughing Dinosaurs (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)
- Laura Ruby, Bone Gap (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins Children’s Books)
- Ilyasah Shabazz, with Kekla Magoon, X: A Novel (Candlewick Press)
- Steve Sheinkin, Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War (Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group)
- Neal Shusterman, Challenger Deep (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
- Noelle Stevenson, Nimona (HarperTeen/HarperCollins Children’s Books)
I’ve only read three of these so it looks as though I will have to make some adjustments to my “to read” pile…again.
Here’s the short list
17 Oct
The short list for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature have been announced. This award is unlike many other awards because the publishers submit titles to the committee, along with $125 per title. If they become a finalist, the must also contribute $1000 towards a promotional campaign. Here are the Finalists, along with the publishers who are out a thousand bucks.
The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp –Kathi Appelt (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster)
I love this book and have it on my list for my teacher book club, if we ever get it going.
The Thing About Luck – Cynthia Kadahota (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster)
I struggled with this one. It has a very slow start, but gets better of you persevere.
Far Far Away – Tom McNeal (Alfred A. Knopf/Random House)
Too scary for me, but well written and a cool story. I am a weenie & couldn’t read it before bed.
Picture Me Gone – Meg Rosoff (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Group USA)
Gorgeous & unforgettable.
Boxers & Saints – Gene Luen Yang (First Second/Macmillan)
My favorite graphic novels of the year!
2013 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
16 SepLONGLIST FOR YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE
The announcement has been made. If you haven’t read these, do so. I’ve either read them or have them on my hold list at the library. This is a rather excellent list.
- Kathi Appelt, The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster)
- Kate DiCamillo, Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures (Candlewick Press)
- Lisa Graff, A Tangle of Knots (Philomel Books/Penguin Group USA)
- Alaya Dawn Johnson, The Summer Prince (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)
- Cynthia Kadohata, The Thing About Luck (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster)
- David Levithan, Two Boys Kissing (Alfred A. Knopf/Random House)
- Tom McNeal, Far Far Away (Alfred A. Knopf/Random House)
- Meg Rosoff, Picture Me Gone (G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin Group USA)
- Anne Ursu, The Real Boy (Walden Pond Press/HarperCollinsPublishers)
- Gene Luen Yang, Boxers & Saints (First Second/Macmillan)
JUDGES:
Deb Caletti, Cecil Castellucci, Peter Glassman, E. Lockhart, Lisa Von Drasek